Canadian court rejects music industry's quest for individual identities

arstechnica notes that the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal has denied (pdf decision) the CRIA's attempt to force ISP to disclose the identities of file sharers.

"While privacy advocates and those in favor of more lenient fair use doctrines will applaud the decision, it must be noted that the court's ruling is not a blanket protection for online anonymity. Two things are likely now: first, the CRIA and friends will attempt to meet the standards of evidence, which is not impossible. Second, they'll start suing individual file sharers directly, likely in the 'John Doe' format we're used to seeing here in the US."

I had previously blogged about this here.